


And only passed her by to come again at dark

by donutworry



Series: the window flower [1]
Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Mental Health Issues, Older Man/Younger Woman, Oral Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, but super mild angst, like...angst-lite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-07 23:11:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6829141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutworry/pseuds/donutworry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's not Peter Pan, but she's certainly his darling.</p><p>*Human AU - 20 years ain't stopping Kai from nabbing his boo*</p>
            </blockquote>





	And only passed her by to come again at dark

**Author's Note:**

> For the wonderful Bonkamily, happy late May 10th.
> 
> Title from the poem "Wind and Window Flower" by Robert Frost. No Beta, all fuck ups are mine. Line breaks mean the POV switches and -*-*- is a new scenario. Time passes between each one, so what may seem short or quick to you is actually weeks or months to them and the entire thing aside from the end takes place over the course of about eight months. The point of this was to explore different aspects of BonKai as a normal human couple whose biggest issues are huge age gap and a managed disturbing personality disorder. Also I have no clue how military or airline piloting works, i just did my best with what I could Google.

A loud ringing, like tinnitus, sounds in his ear, and the world comes back to him in flashes. There’s a man screaming, somewhere nearby and a crowd murmuring discontent. Concrete is rough against his cheeks, something heavy on his back pressing him down into it, and somewhere overhead, blue and red lights flash silently. Kai tries to move his arms, but something keeps his wrists bound and the weight on his back increases.

“Don’t move,” an authoritative voice sounds in his ear at the same time the screaming devolves into moaning.

“My leg,” Kai hears the man sob now. “He broke my leg.”

 

-*-*-

 

The first time they meet, she’s a quiet two-year-old and he’s fresh out of college on the utmost verge of a psychotic break. He’s in legal trouble now, because of that guy’s leg, so his twin, determined to save from his own mind, arranges for him to meet with her psychology professor who also happens to moonlight as a licensed psychiatrist. Dr. Sheila Bennett, M.D., Ph.D. insists on coming to Portland, stating that she’d wanted to go on a vacation anyway and why waste the opportunity?

Kai thinks the whole endeavor might be a waste of time for everyone involved, even throws a fit about it, but Jo pleads with him during their joint return home and he’s always had a soft spot for his sister. So he waits with her in the converted garage for the good doctor. The woman shows up with little shadow sporting big green eyes and a smattering mop of dark curls atop a chubby-cheeked face.

“Sorry, about this,” Dr. Bennett apologizes. “But there’s no one to really watch her back home and I don’t know anyone here. This is Bonnie, my granddaughter. She’s really good, I promise.”

“It’s no problem at all,” Jo is quick to reassure.

Kai says nothing, taking in the girl. She’s about the same age as Lucas and Olivia, the youngest set of twins in the family, and about a billion times more easy-going. As soon as her grandmother releases her hand, she toddles off to the couch and pulls herself up on it and proceeds to eat the goldfish crackers in her little baggie. She takes in his staring and waves a fat fist. Kai waves back and earns a gummy, baby-toothed smile.

Dr. Bennett calls him to attention and asks Jo to leave. The session lasts about two hours and Bonnie is quiet the entire time, eventually putting herself to sleep.

It feels good, to get it off his chest, to describe the isolation and neglect and abuse and the utter hatred he feels for one Joshua Parker. Surprisingly, Kai isn’t shocked at her diagnosis of aggravated sociopathy, nor as off-put by the suggestion for antipsychotic meds as he thought he would be. It makes sense and after the fight, he’s willing to indulge in anything that might help his case.

They have a session every day for the next two weeks, little Bonnie Bennett waving hellos and goodbyes each time. Sometimes the little girl was willing to let Jo watch her during the sessions, but more often than not she preferred to stick near her grandmother. Kai starts to bring little things to entertain the toddler for sit-ins, snacks and cheap toys that he buys on his way home from work. Eventually, their time comes to its end and Kai decides to yield to Bennett’s advice and accepts her recommendation to continue therapy and his medication.

Bonnie Bennett waves goodbye to him one last time and Kai feels a pang when he waves back. She’s a cute kid, but he’s the oldest boy in a family full of cute kids. Soon enough, she and her grandmother leave, and the toddler is forgotten.

 

-*-*-

 

The second time he meets Bonnie Bennett, eighteen years have passed and it’s his birthday. He flies in to Whitmore to celebrate with his sister. It’s weird being in a plane that he’s not piloting, but they’re turning the big four-oh, and she and her long time fiance are expecting twins. Kai figures he could surprise her and drink all the champagne she couldn’t at the moment.

He books a rental and drives himself to Whitmore college. He’s pulling into the parking lot right as Jo calls him - perfect timing as usual. Kai grins to himself when he answers, pulling a bouquet from the passenger seat.

“Hey, sissy,” he greets. “Happy birthday!”

Jo laughs. “Hey, yourself stranger,” she returns. “And happy birthday to you too. What’s up?”

“Just running some errands,” he makes his way inside the building where her office is located. “You?”

“Waiting for a student in my office, I have to give a recommendation letter to her.”

“Oh, that’s perfect,” he replies. “You don’t happen to have any plans with Alaric tonight do you?”

“Why? And no, nothing really, we might go out for dinner though.”

“Because I,” he states from the doorway of her office. “Am taking you out tonight.”

Jo stares up at him in surprise and then a large smile lights up her face. He hangs up and makes his way over as she gets to her feet. They hug for a long time, having not seen each other in over a year.

“What are you doing here?” she questions. “Why didn’t you tell me you were visiting?”

“Well,” he pauses. “First off, I’m moving.”

“What?” Jo pulls away to meet his gaze.

“I got a job at the Whitmore Airport. You’re looking at their newest intercontinental captain.”

Jo laughs in joy and hugs him again. “That’s great!”

“Thanks,” Kai grins.

“What’s up with the change, I thought you liked working for the Air Force?”

“I did,” he pulls back and shrugs, meeting her gaze. “But I wanted something a little more luxurious than a flight instructor for the military. Besides, with the twins coming, I figured you could use some family other than Dumb and Dumber nearby.”

Jo smiles again, then frowns.

“Wait, which one’s Du-”

A knock interrupts Jo, and a soft “Dr. Parker?” fills the air.

Jo and Kai pull apart and turn to meet the newcomer. A pretty, petite girl with brown skin and intelligent, malachite eyes, full lips, and a stubborn chin fills half the doorway. Her dark hair is cut into a short bob that frames her heart-shaped face, its expression friendly, but uncertain.

“Hey,” she says slowly. “Am I interrupting?”

“No, Bonnie, no. Come in,” Jo welcomes the girl. “This is my twin, Kai. Kai, this is Bonnie Bennett.”

Bonnie Bennett. The name sounds familiar. The flash of a chubby little hand waving in the air, and Sheila Bennett’s kind voice fills his head.

“Bonnie Bennett? Any relation to Sheila Bennett?”

“Yeah,” Bonnie replies, surprised. “She was my grandmother - you knew her?”

“Uhh...yeah. She was my psychiatrist for short while. How she’s doing?”

Bonnie suddenly looks less animated. “She, um, passed away a few years ago.”

The silence becomes awkward and Jo looks between them, then at the ground, before speaking.

“Bonnie, you came for your letter right?” Jo takes the flowers from Kai and bustles back to her desk. “Hey, Kai, I’ll meet you at the house later, okay?”

Kai recognizes the dismissal for what it, and despite the irritation it causes, relents to the command. He meets Bonnie’s eye as he passes her by, and there is a beat where he intakes her scent. It’s honey and sage and attention-grabbing. He takes her face in for a second time and, damn - she is really pretty. Soft, dark eye-lashes frame soulful green eyes and she licks her full lips nervously when he passes. He traces the movement with his own eyes and there is a hitch, a breath, a moment, a lifetime when his heart resets.

She was a cute kid, but Toddler Bonster holds nothing on her all grown-up counterpart. Kai gets out of Jo’s office, and goes to shut the door. Bonnie turns to look at him once more, before the door closes. He thinks he sees it on her face that her heart just reset too.

 

* * *

 

“Yeah, Dad, I got the money,” Bonnie says into her cell on her way to the coffee shop. “Thanks. Finals are going alright. Oh! I got that internship I was telling you about. No, no, Caroline didn’t do anything to celebrate, I haven’t told her yet. Why?”

Bonnie listens to her father fill her in on his plans and local cases. He’s pleased that she’s on her way to accomplishing her dreams, is taking after her old man in being passionate about her work, but the conversation leaves a bittersweet taste on her tongue. When she gets to the front of the line, she says goodbye and orders a skim chai latte with an extra shot of espresso, since she’s tired from exams. She still has one more paper to get out before she could call it quits on this semester, so hopefully the caffeine will carry her through until Bonnie can make a date with her bed.

Scanning the cafe for an empty table, Bonnie notices a tall man with a head of thick, dark hair. He seems familiar and it takes her a while to place him, but when she does, her heart gives small jolt and her palms feel suddenly clammy.

Kai Parker, Dr. Parker’s hot twin brother, is reading a book in a coffee shop, nursing what looks like a really sugary frappuccino - judging by the sheer volume of whip cream piled on top of the liquid - and he’s sitting alone. Bonnie looks away and starts to walk off before she pauses and glances at his table again.

He’s still sitting alone.

He could be meeting someone, she thinks to herself. He’s way older than you, he’s probably married. He probably has kids. And if he’s not, he’s probably into women closer to his age, not college kids still reliant on their parents.

_One way to find out._

Steeling her backbone, Bonnie makes a turn about and marches towards his table. Kai looks up when she pauses at the seat opposite of him and a smile immediately lights up his face.

“Hey,” he greets.

“Hey.”

They stare at each other briefly, each drinking in the other. His eyes go dark with something as he looks at her.

“Wanna sit with me?” Kai invites. Bonnie nods with small, crooked smile and plops down.

He _does_ wear a ring - multiple ones in fact, but a certain digit on his left hand is bare.

 

-*-*-

 

Bonnie’s never had a ton boys lining up for her in the past. She’s dated of course; she and Elena’s brother Jeremy were early high school sweethearts, and she had been very serious with Damon Salvatore during a long-running rebellious phase before they broke up. The two of them had been great together, but they made greater friends. Bonnie has since helped him get with Elena, and the two of them are now disgustingly happy. Aside from a very, _very_ brief stint with Enzo St. John, that pretty much was the sum of her romantic life.

None of the feelings she felt during those relationships can match what Kai Parker does to her. Not even close.

It’s kind of ridiculous, how easy it is to be around him, especially since they’ve only really known each other about two months. One would think that they would have nothing in common, being from two different generations, but their talks could literally last hours. And after they traded numbers, Bonnie’s sleep goes caput - between her internship at the school's crime lab and the texts she receives during the darkest hours from Kai as he flies over cities around the world, she’s run ragged. Sometimes, he makes brief stints into those cities to eat or to buy her a trinket.

She starts a collection. Saves all the photos he sends her in a folder dedicated to him on her phone. Clears a shelf in her room for all the things he brings her when he returns from his trips. Bonnie can sometimes hear Elena and Caroline discussing the new items on the shelf, trying to figure out who it is that has their friend smiling and awake at all hours of the night. They think she’s holding out on them, that she has a secret boyfriend, and they try to squeeze the information out of her each chance they get. Bonnie stays mum because there’s nothing to tell.

Kai makes her feel things, overwhelming, frightening, beautiful things. More than what any of the boyfriends she’s had in the past made her feel. But see, that, _that’s_ the kicker.

Malachai Parker is not Bonnie Bennett’s boyfriend.

 

-*-*-

 

Ringing in her ear drives her to irritation one Saturday morning and Bonnie sits up in bed to find the source. Her phone buzzes on the nightstand, and Bonnie snatches it up to see who could be calling her at the god _awful_ hour of 7:12 a.m.

**_KAI_ **

Bonnie’s breath catches and she smooths her hair, chiding herself once she realizes what she’s doing. He can’t even see her.

“Hello,” she answers.

“Morning!” Kai sounds way too chipper for this early on a Saturday morning. “Did I wake you up? You sound groggy.”

“Uh, yeah. It’s seven in the morning. On a _Saturday_ ,” Bonnie refuses to let this fact go unheard.

He chuckles. “You home or at your dorm?”

“Why?”

“It’s a surprise. Spend my off day with me?”

Bonnie bites her lip to contain her smile. “Sure. I’m at home. Thirty minutes?”

“I’ll be there.”

They hang up and for a moment, Bonnie is still, clutching her phone to her chest. Then she’s thrashing about, kicking her feet happily and squealing. She throws herself out of bed and goes to her closet, carefully picking picking her outfit for maximum cuteness and efficiency in case they were doing anything physical.

In the shower, she thinks about Kai, his stubbled jaw and boyish grin and blue-grey eyes that lit up at the sight of her. No one has ever looked at her that way before, like she scattered the stars across the sky and made flowers bloom with her very presence. Like they wanted to take every part of her and meld it to themselves.

It surprises her, the first brush of her fingers across her clit, but then soon her digits are buried in her core and hard at work bringing her off. She thinks one last time about Kai, the way he looks at her and the way his voice rumbles out of his chest when he calls her name and then she’s cumming with a sharp cry of his.

She takes a few moments to gather herself then continues her shower. A part of her feels guilty and embarrassed, but a larger part of her feels emboldened. Right. Like Kai Parker is hers.

Quickly, Bonnie shuts off the water and gets ready for her...date? Is it a date? It had to be. Why else would a guy call a girl early on a Saturday morning to ask to spend the day with her? Pulling on her shirt, Bonnie is suddenly unsure of the revelation she’d had in the shower. Maybe she’s wrong about the way he looks at her and her freakish crush is causing her to project. A rush of cafard and uncertainty fills her, and she frowns at the notion that there was a chance her feelings were unrequited.

A sharp knock interrupts her thoughts and Bonnie forces herself to take a breath and calm down. She swipes up her shoes and purse, and makes her way downstairs to greet Kai.

He’s leaning against the porch railing when she opens the door, long body relaxed and content in the morning light. Dark aviators hide his eyes from her and she wonders if he’s looking at her the way she’s looking at him. If he likes what he’s seeing.

“Morning,” he says quietly.

“Morning,” she repeats. She steps out onto the porch and proceeds to put on her shoes and lock the door. When she’s ready, he stands up from the railing and gently takes her hand, leading her down to his car.

“So what’s up for today? What are we doing?” she asks when they’re pulling out of the driveway. “Or is it still a surprise?”

Kai grins over at her. “My place first. I’m cooking you breakfast. After that, it’s still a surprise.”

Bonnie swears her heart tries to leap away from her at the prospect of visiting Kai’s home. She knows that he’s been undergoing a long move, having his stuff transported from Portland to Whitmore and never really being home long enough to unpack. She’s never been to his place and she’s nervous about going for the first time. Smiling to herself, Bonnie tries to quell the fluttering in her belly - Kai, the man she seriously likes, is taking her to his home. Progress is being made.

 

 

 

* * *

 

The drive from her house is only about ten minutes away, Kai’s house being on the outskirts of Mystic Falls on the way to Whitmore. The time passes quickly, the two of them busy chatting as they both wake up.

“CobraKai1972 - that’s your twitter handle?” Bonnie giggles. The sound warms Kai’s belly and he casts a grin at her.

“You should follow me,” he replies. “I spend a lot of time spamming Baywatch at Pam Anderson and David Hasselhoff.”

“Oh god, why?”

“To remind them of their glory days. Dave is sixty, he needs to be reminded he was once like, super hot. It’s a favor.”

She pokes her finger into his side. “Hey, now you’re not one to talk, old man,” she teases.

Kai scoffs, affronted and hiding the twinge of upset at her words. “I’m the definition of fine wine, _little girl,_ ” he replies. “Don’t act like you don’t think I’m hot, I see you.”

Bonnie shakes her head at him, seemingly amused and embarrassed at how often he can such a dick. When they finally make their way inside his house, the smell that assaults him immediately causes his mouth to water and reawakens Kai’s hunger.

“Damn, that smells good.”

Kai grins at her. “Of course, I made it.”

He gives her a quick tour, then guides her to sit at the dining table while he went to the kitchen to finish up the food. One by one, he starts to bring it out. A tray with large walnut cinnamon rolls smothered with the right amount of icing and blueberry muffins with brown sugar crumbles. Another tray with french bread sliced in half to make tomato and basil bruschetta. A pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice and a bowl of chocolate strawberries. Two plates with sausage and cheese frittata. Each new food item he brings causes Bonnie to go wide-eyed anew.

“Wipe your mouth, girly, you’re getting drool all over my new table.”

Bonnie’s eyes snap to him as he joins her. “ _You_ made all of _this?_ ” She sounds awed.

He sticks his tongue out at her. “Told you, I can cook.”

“But how are we supposed to finish all of this?”

“I can eat too,” Kai replies and digs in, covertly watching her as she starts to eat herself. He smirks when she seems to curl up in delight and eats more heartily, reaching out to try the other things he made. Comfortable silence settles between them while they feed themselves and soon enough, Bonnie is tapping out.

“I’m stuffed,” she eyes what’s left, then looks at Kai who is still wolfing down a cinnamon roll. “I have no idea how you’re not bursting right now. How are you not a whale?”

Kai shrugs and swallows. “Organic, baby. Most of this stuff is actually vegan, except the obvious. Besides, I’ve always had a big appetite.”

He’s still a little hungry, but he decides it’s a good time to get ready to go anyway. Standing, he starts to carry things back to the kitchen to save for later. Immediately Bonnie is up to help him and together, they quickly move the food to containers and clean up the dirty dishes.

When they finish, Kai turns to watch her, as she finishes drying the last of the plates. She seems happy. Content and safe, like she’s comfortable exactly where she is. A heavy feeling settles over Kai, because what the hell is he even doing?

He’s kind of a pervert.

Granted, Bonnie was not a child, but she was still twenty years his junior and at the dawn of her life. In all honesty, he’s closer to her dad’s age than he is to hers. Kai can tell that she feels something for him in return, but he can also tell that she’s uncertain about it. About him. Her naivete when it comes to their relationship is astounding; sometimes when she’s on the verge of referring to him as something more than a friend, she’ll catch herself and a sad look will pass over her.

As if what they were doing wasn’t dating at all.

She finishes drying the final plate and goes on tiptoe to put it up, and he moves to trap her between him and the counter. Bonnie falters when Kai presses his chest against her back and softly calls his name when she lowers herself. He wraps his his arms around her torso when she does, tucking his face into the crook of neck and placing a kiss just below her ear. A shudder passes through her when she leans back into him, her back molding against his chest and her eyes closing.

“Kai?”

“Hm?”

“What are you doing?” she questions. He thinks briefly on how to form his next words, the best way to erase the uncertainty and restraint she has around him.

“Hugging my girlfriend,” he decides. This time, _she_ pauses. And then, tentatively -

“I’m your girlfriend?”

Kai leaves another kiss on her neck and he can feel the rapid staccato of her pulse just below his lips.

“I think you have been for a while.”

 

-*-*-

 

Turns out, his girlfriend - and Kai is giddy that he can officially call her that now - loves her surprise.

“This is awesome,” Bonnie says into her comm, looking down over the town. He had booked a practice appointment at Virginia airfield that let pilots rent aircraft and go out to fly for about an hour. In the back, the employee the company sent with them sits quietly, reading a book and leaving the couple in relative privacy. “So you can pilot airplanes and helicopters?”

“Yeah,” Kai replies, “I was an aviation science major in college and learned plane mechanics and piloting there. After that, I joined the Air Force and piloted medical evac and supply ‘copters during Iraq. I was never green lighted for combat, but I had skills that could be used in the hangars or to instruct fighter pilots, so I did that too.”

“Why weren’t you approved for combat? You look healthy.”

Kai is silent for a long beat after she asks that question, and she eventually looks over at him from her side of the cockpit. He can easily imagine the curiosity on her face beneath the visored helmet.

“Now’s not the best time for me to explain. I’ll tell you when we get back.”

Bonnie quietly observes him for a moment, taking in his grave tone. She nods slowly, filling Kai with relief that she was so patient and compassionate. It also fills him with guilt.

He’s played her, he knows, but Kai has always been a selfish person. It’s a result of his disorder, and even after years of therapy and medication, and learning to properly identify and address his emotions and lack of empathy, it was still hard for him to let go of that me-first mindset. If he hadn’t had Jo, and her stubborn insistence to help him overcome his poor upbringing and violent streak, he’d probably be a serial killer well on his way to lethal injection.

Kai had done a lot of research into psychopathy and sociopathy and antisocial personality disorders in general after Sheila Bennett’s original prognosis. He did his best to recognize when his behavior was regressing and to counteract it, and he’d done pretty well in his life. He had a successful, steady career and he navigated his social and familial ties well enough to not sabotage them. Still, he knew he failed in other aspects.

Like for the fact that at forty years old, Bonnie was his first real, committed relationship. Not to say that he’s never had any long running ones before, but he’d never let it get so far as becoming exclusively monogamous. Anytime the women he’d dated began to push that agenda, he would immediately retreat and start sleeping with other women, doing nothing to hide the fact that he was ‘cheating’ and eventually driving them away. He’s never been so completely obsessive over another person the way he was with Bonnie and he understood his condition well enough to consider that he’s very likely developed a fixation with her.

What was disturbing for Kai was that he didn’t know _when_ he developed the fixation. These past few months or those past few weeks eighteen years ago. He’s not, ugh gross, he’s definitely not some kind of pedo, but he’s also never really had an interest in kids, not even his siblings, the way he did with Bonnie. He didn’t go out of his way to pack snacks or small gifts for his younger siblings like he had done for Bonnie those two weeks she’d been visiting Portland with her grandmother. He’s also never been so viscerally and instantly attracted to a woman the way he was with her back in Jo’s office.

But, as stated, Kai is selfish - and more than a little manipulative. Bonnie knows he has some mental disorder, but Kai wanted to be sure of her feelings and their relationship before he told her anything about it. Maybe she’s not there yet, but she’s far down the road towards falling in love with him and he doesn’t regret guiding her there. He doesn’t know if he loves her - it’s still confusing for him, since his only context of love was what he felt for Jo and _that_ was definitely different from what he felt for Bonnie - but he does know that Bonnie Bennett is his.

 

-*-*-

 

Their date ends with them curled up on his couch watching _Secondhand Lions_. Bonnie hasn’t said anything yet about Kai’s promise to fill her in later, but he can feel the anticipation bubbling beneath the surface. She does her best not to push him too far though. He’s grateful for the effort and seeks a place to start his confession.

“So I guess I’ve always been a really sore loser,” he begins. Immediately, her focus jumps from the screen to him, but he can’t bring himself to look at her as he talks, keeping his gaze pointed at the movie. “When I was in college I ran track, and I was good, but I came in second place in the final meet before graduation. Anyway, after the ceremony, I was in a bar with some idiots I knew, getting wasted and the guy who beat me at the meet comes in. At first, it’s alright - he doesn’t see me, and even though I hated the sight of his ugly mug since he broke my perfect streak, it wasn’t something that would have blown up, you know? But then, he _did_ notice me and he came over to say hi. We were both really drunk, and a conversation that started off about talks of the future after graduation turned into shit talking turned into me going into a rage and breaking his leg.”

He pauses here, and tentatively meets her gaze. Bonnie’s rapt, watching him so closely he could swear she was holding her breath.

“I guess the best way to put this is that my rage, my emotions in general, aren’t like other people’s. I don’t know when to stop, or how far is too far, or even how to have sympathy or realize how my actions affect people. After that night, I got arrested and faced battery and aggravated assault charges. Jo was a student of your grandmother’s back then and she’d asked Sheila to come check me out. She diagnosed me with an antisocial disorder - I’m a sociopath,” Kai hears Bonnie’s small intake of breath, but he presses on.

“Anyway, I met your grandmother -,” he pauses, considering. “And you - a few weeks after that night at the bar. She suggested I start taking meds and seek regular therapy and my lawyer backed her advice, saying that if I had a professional diagnosis, and a record that I was taking steps to fix myself, I could lighten my sentence significantly.

“In the end, I had 200 hours of community service, a court mandate to continue therapy and anger management, and I had to compensate his medical costs. I got lucky.”

Kai stops talking and let’s Bonnie digest his words for while. He watches the movie while she processes and then faces her when she speaks up.

“And since then? What about now?”

“I still do therapy. Still take my meds. In the Air Force, psych eval and medical history kept me from any actual combat, which was good. No violence to stimulate me.”

“Does violence stimulate you?” she interrupts. Kai shrugs.

“Dunno. Haven’t been around much since that fight. Really gory action and horror movies are kind of relaxing though - or I guess they don’t really affect me, ‘relaxing’ isn’t the best word to use. Still take regular psyche evals and my job requires random monthly drug testing anyway, so people know to make sure I have certain chemicals in my system. Overall, I’m pretty normal now, if a bit emotionally stunted.”

Bonnie’s shoulders droop and Kai wants to smack himself. No girl wants to be told that her boyfriend has shitty emotional capacity. Panicked, he starts to do damage control.

“When I say that, I mean it’s sometimes hard for me to figure out what I’m feeling or how to react to it. So like, if you get mad and I laugh, it’s not because I don’t take your anger seriously or don’t understand where you’re coming from, I just don’t always know how to best respond. I react to my emotions first, then to others’ and usually I have to _think_ about it, it’s not instinctual for me like it is for normal people.”

Bonnie doesn’t say anything for a long time. They watch the rest of the movie in silence, Haley Joel Osment’s cracking voice filling the silence. Finally, it ends and Bonnie goes to seek comfort in his arms. He pulls her close, his relief palpable that she’s showing acceptance. He might not have much empathy, but thank god she does.

“And me? Do you know about me?” she asks softly. He presses a kiss to the top her head, running his fingers through her short hair.

“I know I want to be the one to make you happy,” he replies. She buries her button nose to the dip in his neck. Kai can hear her inhaling his cologne and feel the soft curve of her smiling cheeks. To his surprise, she quickly sits up to peck his lips, before dropping her head shyly back down onto his chest.

“I’d like that.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

The summer draws to a close and Bonnie moves back into the dorms. Fall classes start again and Bonnie once more shoulders the burden of her studies. October comes and leaves turnover, the smell of pumpkin and autumn hanging in the air, while stress wrecks havoc on the student body. On the bright side, Kai isn’t away for weeks at a time now that the fleets summer vacationers have come to an end, only flying about four or five days per week now. Even so, between their staggered schedules, and Bonnie’s nosy friends and family, she starts to feel the pressure on her relationship.

Not that she thinks her relationship isn’t worth the pressure, it’s just - what is she going to say? She’s falling fairly quickly into a serious place with her advisor/former teacher’s _twin brother_ . Cool job and hotness aside, her friends - her _parents_ \- aren’t likely to be eager about her regularly hooking up with someone who could be her father. As much as Bonnie loves Elena and Caroline, she knows that they’ll try to convince her that she’s being young and foolish, and that she couldn’t possibly in love. That Kai was manipulating her.

Bonnie isn’t stupid though; she knows that whatever is between her and Kai isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. There is a power gap, as loathe as she is to admit, and she’s usually on the lower end of the spectrum. After their amazing first date, when he took her home and she was able to think about it, she’d realized that as lovely of a time as she had had with him, the whole thing had been, at least in part, a ploy. Kai wanted to be honest with her, but more than that, he’d just _wanted her_. Feeding her delicious home cooked meals and impressing her with his skills had been a mousetrap. A ‘look at how great of a boyfriend I am’ gameplay. When she confronted him about it, he was quick to confirm it, and it had resulted in their first fight. He consented to just talk to her about things and not try to sway her with alternative methods if she promised to take into consideration that he wasn’t always going to realize when he was doing it.

At least she could give him that, though - he never lies to her. And he _is_ a great boyfriend. The best boyfriend she’s ever had. Even if he didn’t always understand her stress or reasons for acting out the way she was, he was always pretty quick to take action to appease her. Rubbing her feet until she fell asleep after pulling an all nighter, making sure she had breakfast and coffee in the morning, quickly communicating so issues didn’t stagnate between them, eagerly sharing and celebrating good news with her. Maybe it’s his age, or his experience with therapy, but being with Kai is the most adult relationship she’d experienced.

Bonnie is happy. Kai makes her happy.

Kai, who is also pushing to bring their relationship status out of the closet.

“Facebook official, Bonster, at the very least,” he wheedles, rolling the die. He moves his piece 4 spaces. He hands her two hundred dollars from his pile of money to pay her rent.

“How about no?”

“Then I meet your dad.”

“Hell no!” she squeaks. “He’ll disown my ass.”

Kai blows a kiss at her. “I’ll support your ass,” he replies with wink. She scowls at him when she makes her turn.

“Noooooo,” she says. He sighs.

“Give me something, babe. It’s not exactly fun playing hide-n-seek makeouts all the time.”

“Isn’t it?” she gives him a wicked smile and his eyes darken. He leans forward and kisses her, slipping his hands up to cup her face so he could control the action. Both of their eyes fall shut as they relish the taste of each other. It seems like hours before his hand suddenly jumps out and grabs hers, just as it’s retreating from the bank. They grin against each other’s lips and he slowly lifts his lids to peek at her.

“Bonnie Bennett, stealing from the bank,” his voice is a low rumble, vibrating from his chest into hers. Arousal stirs in her belly and she presses her legs together. “Naughty girl. What should I do with you?”

I have a few ideas, she thinks, and bites her lip. Kai licks at her mouth when she does that and she moans, climbing into his lap, stupid game of Monopoly forgotten. He pulls her into him, laughing in welcome of her eagerness. Bonnie palms at the erection in his jeans.

For unknown reasons, they haven’t had sex yet. It’s not like they didn’t want to; moments like these happened for too often and the two of them have touched and tasted each other all over, eager to engage and learn. For some reason though, when it comes to actual intercourse, they always get interrupted or run out of time or just get so caught up in teasing each other that foreplay becomes the only play. Bonnie has no complaints though. Kai is a very creative man and her orgasm count has spiked like gas prices under Bush.

Kai pulls away and quickly yanks her shirt off, seeking out the nipples poking through her bralette with his mouth. His hands roam her back, one reaching down to cup her ass as he stands up. Bonnie’s legs wrap around his waist and he meets her gaze as he bites down sharply on a dark nipple.

“Ah, fuck,” Bonnie mutters, arching into his mouth.

“That’s the plan, Bonnie.” He takes them into his bedroom, tossing her on the bed and tugging off his shirt.

He kneels partway on the mattress and grabs her ankles, pulling her towards him and splaying her legs so that her skirt rides up. Kai sucks two fingers into his mouth to wet them, then pushes aside the crotch of her panties to fuck up into her with them. He’s merciless. It feels like he’s barely started to touch her when an orgasm ripples through her. She clenches on his fingers and he chuckles.

“Already, pretty thing?” he taunts. His thumb presses harshly down onto her clit, wet from her juices. “I just started with you.”

His free hand, which had been tracing the the curves of her breasts through her bralette suddenly clasp around the fabric and jerk at the same time he clamps down on her clit and G-spot with its more wicked twin. Bonnie arches up with a cry, the fabric biting into her flesh in protest as it rips. Kai’s hand fastens around her neck, choking just enough to make the edges of her vision go black, robbing her of breath when her second orgasm hits her. It’s euphoric, the lightheadedness and the thrums of electricity running through her body.

It takes her a moment to realize that he’s let her go, allowing her to catch her breath while he discards the rest of their clothes. He’s a beautiful man, fit almost to the point of obsessive and she reaches out to him with kisses once he’s kicked his jeans off, no doubt interrupting more of his wicked machinations. If there’s one place she doesn’t mind dealing with his sociopathy, it’s typically in the bedroom. She knows half the time he’s playing her body for amusement and power as much as he is just to bring her pleasure. It’s apparent in the way that he pushes at her boundaries unless she outright tells him she doesn’t like something. So far, Bonnie’s enjoyed the rougher stuff, willing to play the masochist to his sadistic streak when he was so eager to make sure she got something good out of it.

Kai pulls back and flips her over onto her hands and knees, hot breath hitting her core seconds later before a warm tongue laves a path from clit to asshole and oh, god he’s gross. She clenches and leans away, but a sudden, sharp smack on her behind and an arm locking around her waist has her whimpering and pressing herself further back. He’s so fucking filthy with her it’s overwhelming at times, but she loves every moment of it. Being with him like this, it upstages the memories of her other lovers. He knows her so well and yet he’s always burning to learn more, to have more, give more until they consume each other. The intensity of his desire is daunting and devoted and tender, and more hers than anything anyone has given her.

Tonguing at her entrance, scruff chaffing the insides of her thighs as he eats her out, Kai brings her to a third orgasm that night. Bonnie fists the dark green sheets and buries her face into them to muffle her cries. Tears threaten to fall when he continues the assault on her sensitive flesh until she is pleading his name. A mingle of her juices and spittle run slowly down her thighs and Kai laps them up like a dog, pressing soft kisses against the seam of her core. Teasingly, he flutters the tip of his tongue against her nub, laughing when she jerks and pushes his face away.

The thick swell of his cock rubs into her wet folds and she almost sighs in relief. They have nowhere to go and no urgent matters to attend to and their phones are charging in the kitchen on vibrate. There is just each other and this unbearable heat flaring between them.

Bonnie sits up and he’s quick to wrap himself around her, so that she’s kneeling at the edge of the bed, him standing behind her. It’s like a dirty revamp of the back hug he gave her when he nudged her into being his girlfriend. Rocking his cock gently between her thighs, Kai nips at her ear and she turns to accommodate his silent question, joining her mouth to his. His tongue tastes like her flesh, the tang of her womanhood causing a gush of wetness to coat him.

He pulls away from her mouth, eyes catching hers. His pupils are blown wide and she wonders briefly if hers match the look of her boyfriend’s.

“I love you,” he sighs. Pleasant warmth flares in Bonnie’s chest and she pecks him sweetly on the mouth with a smile. Playfully, he rubs his head against her chin like a cat, amusing her, but soon her giggles turn to moans when he reaches between them to jerk the head of his penis ever-so-slightly into her. Bonnie moans in aggravation, leaning her head back onto his shoulder.

“Please?” she whines. He shakes his head and gestures toward the nightstand.

“Condom?” Oh, Bonnie realizes. He wants to fuck her, but he doesn’t want to let her go. She reaches for his head to kiss him again and his gentle strokes stutter.

“IUD,” she grins against his mouth. Then she’s laughing a breathless moan when Kai is penetrating her, his length moving within her warmth ferally.

There are no interruptions this time around.

 

-*-*-

 

It’s at their coffee shop during the holiday season when shit finally hits the fan. They get their usual orders and settle at a table, with the intention of her memorizing reaction categories for her biochem final and him to cheer her on if she needed it. She’s immersed in her studying and he’s tapping furiously at the screen of his phone, both of them with earbuds secure so that they don’t disturb the other, when a familiar hand grasps her shoulder. Started, Bonnie jumps back towards Kai as she meets the familiar doe-eyed gaze of her best friend...who is currently with Bonnie’s other two blue-eyed best friends and the hazel-eyed brother of one of them. Great. She can feel Kai’s fingers brushing along the back of her spine, trying to soothe her as he meets her friends’ looks with friendly curiosity.

Damon, damn him, notices and gets the same constipated look he always gets whenever he scrutinizes one of her boyfriends who isn’t him. Dread fills Bonnie, because if Damon has anything stupid to say - which he will - Bonnie will likely punch his ass in the throat, anatomy be damned.

“Hey, guys,” she tries to mediate the situation before it gets away from her. The four of them move to sit at the table and Bonnie’s tension amps up. “What’s up?”

Elena opens her mouth to speak, but Damon beats her to the punch.

“Who’s Mr. Touchy-Hands, Bon Bon?” Stefan frowns at his brother’s rudeness and Caroline glares at the darker-haired Salvatore.

Asshole. Bonnie wants to kick him, but Elena is in the way.

“Oh. This is Kai Parker. Kai, these are my friends, Elena, Caroline, Damon, and Stefan,” she points to each of them in turn.

Elena perks up and addresses Kai. “Parker? Like Dr. Jo Parker and Luke and Liv?”

“The very same,” Kai grins up at her, his charming, boyish grin, and Bonnie wants to praise him for the dazzled look that settle over her two female friends. “Jo’s actually my twin.”

Okay, now Bonnie wants to kick _him_. Why’d he have to say that? He doesn’t look forty (granted, neither did Jo), but he does look older. She could have at least played up how amazing he is until she absolutely had to fess up to the size of the age gap, but now that her friends had an idea of his real age, it would be harder to convince them not to immediately try to take her for a baptism. Or to tell her dad.

“Really?” Caroline asks. She looks between them. “Are you a professor too? Or someone that works here?”

“No,” Kai answers truthfully and Bonnie has never hated his blunt nature the way she did at that moment. “I’m an airline captain.”

“That’s cool,” Stefan perks up and smiles warmly. “Do you know Bonnie through Jo?” Kai is too relaxed and too amused at her side. Bonnie can tell he’s not going to bother to do her any favors and she thinks, briefly insane, about throwing her still hot coffee on him to shut him up.

“Sort of. I mostly know Bonnie because she’s my -”

“Sponsee!” Bonnie interrupts. “He’s my life-mentorship sponsor. You know the program through the career and life center? Right, Kai?” she turns to face him, and Kai smiles at her, amused by how far she’s going.

“Right. I’m her life mentor. I teach her life lessons.”

“What life-mentor program?” Caroline, the overachiever, looks interested. “I hadn’t heard of it before.”

“It’s new,” Bonnie says.

“Brand new,” Kai supports.

“Oh, is it easy to apply to then?”

“No,” Bonnie and Kai state together. He picks up his frappuccino to suck down his daily dose of sugar and Bonnie can tell he’s trying his hardest not to laugh.

“Could you give me some pointers then? How’d you get it?” Caroline presses. Kai is on the verge of trembling, he’s trying so hard to compress his laughter and Bonnie knows, she just _knows_ , that soon enough he going to start guffawing like a loon.

To her surprise, he stands up. “I’m going to grab a refill,” he says. His cup is just under half-full. He turns to Caroline and says “A matchmaker will probably help the process go quicker. Bonnie and I had one.”

Kai walks off then, head ducked as he tries not to be overheard snickering.

“Who was your matchmaker, Bonnie? Jo?” Elena asks.

“I doubt it,” Damon inserts. He’s staring at her like she just snatched a fly out of the air with her tongue. “Since Bonnie’s lying.”

“Am not,” Bonnie snaps. God, she really hates Damon sometimes.

“Are too,” Damon snaps back. “So that’s the guy then? What you have some daddy issues you never addressed or something?”

“Oh, shut up, idiot,” Bonnie growls. Caroline and Elena are looking between the two of them, dawning realization touching their faces. Stefan casts a concerned gaze her way, but his expression softens when he takes her in. His foot nudges hers and she shoots him grateful look. At least someone is in her corner. She could probably get Elena soon, but Damon and Caroline - especially that black-haired devil - will be harder to sway, already likely jumping to the wrong conclusions.

Bonnie sighs. “Look, I’m sorry I lied okay? But you all just showed up here when I was with him, and I’m nowhere near ready to go public with our relationship and I -”

“Relationship?” Caroline interrupts. “Bonnie, he’s old!”

“Forty is not old,” Bonnie glowers.

“Forty? Bonnie your dad is forty-nine, he’s literally closer to your dad’s age than yours. He’s _old._ ”

“Shut up,” Bonnie mutters. “Look, whatever you’re thinking, it didn’t happen like that okay?”

“Oh, and just what are we thinking?” Damon prompts. Bonnie scowls at him. Elena be damned. Bonnie swiftly kicks Damon’s knee and he jumps, sending her a dirty look.

“Bonnie, we’re just concerned,” Caroline interjects before they get out of hand. “ I mean, why do you feel the need to lie about your relationship if something wasn’t going on?”

“I just told you, I wasn’t ready to share!”

“Bonnie, if he’s manipulating or hurting you…” Caroline trails off and Damon grows somber. “You need to tell us.”

Bonnie softens and meets her gaze. “Care, I promise, everything is great okay? I’m happy. Like I said, it’s not what you think.”

“You two have been awfully quiet,” Damon addresses Elena and Stefan. “What’s your take?”

“Bonnie is an adult who can make her own decisions without people policing them,” Stefan snaps at his brother. Bonnie is surprised. He was on her side, but he seemed beyond defensive on her behalf. Elena nods in agreement, looking over Bonnie before speaking to Caroline.

“Care, remember Bonnie’s shelf last semester? The one with all those trinkets that we kept asking her about because she was always happy when she got a new one?”

“Yeah, so?” Caroline asks, before she realizes. “Oh! Oh. That was Kai wasn’t it?”

“Yup,” Kai’s voice rings over the table. A bag is placed on the table in front of Bonnie and the smell of cinnamon reminds her stomach to chime in on the conversation with a gurgle.

“I heard my name a few times. All good, I hope?” the man asks, settling back in his seat. Damon’s salty lemon-mouth face returns, but Caroline is assessing Kai with a narrowed gaze. Elena and Stefan watch as Kai grasps Bonnie’s hand while she tears into the large cinnamon roll he brought her, the brunette smiling softly at the interaction and Stefan seeming oddly relieved.

“Okay, fine,” Caroline breathes. “You get best friend approval.”

“I don’t approve,” Damon mutters.

“From the best friends who matter,” Caroline continues. “Don’t mess this up and don’t hurt her, or I will choke you with your testicles.”

“Noted,” Kai laughs.

“Have you told your families yet?” Elena asks, curious. Kai squeezes her hand when Bonnie groans softly.

 

-*-*-

 

The couple comes to the agreement that they would start with Kai’s family first and split the duties, before going to meet Bonnie’s dad together. Luke and Liv are are the easiest to break it to, so Bonnie starts there first while Kai goes to break it Jo while she’s at the hospital. He’s confident she won’t take it nearly as bad as Bonnie thinks she will, stating that it was a twin thing and he was smart enough to tell her while she was in labor. Incorrigible prat. For Bonnie, it’s less of a hassle than she thinks, when she realizes she only needs to tell Liv, since the other girl will likely inform Luke for her.

(“I’m dating your brother,” Bonnie blurted. She’d been nursing a cherry Sprite for fifteen minutes at the bar Live works at, trying to muster the courage to get that out.

Liv frowned at her. “Luke’s gay?”

“No, no,” Bonnie shook her head. “Other brother with a twin sister.”

Liv stopped wiping down the bar to stare at Bonnie, a disconcerting frown on her face. “Are you serious?”

“Heart attack.”

Liv visibly shuddered. “Gross.”

“Thanks.”

Liv stared out into space for a moment, her face troubled before she turned back to Bonnie. “Look, Kai’s not all bad, but he can be a bit of a bully sometimes. Don’t let him wear you down.”

“Trust me, I don’t,” Bonnie smiled at the girl.

“Good. You’ll need that when you meet our dad.” Bonnie’s smile faded as she realized that the girl thinks she’ll be in for the long haul. Or at least long enough to meet parents that Kai didn’t care for.

Holy shit.)

Telling Bonnie’s dad actually goes both as horrible as she thought and much easier than she expected. She and Kai arrange to meet Rudy Hopkins at a nice restaurant en route to Mystic Falls and Bonnie makes sure to inform him that it was a meet the parent thing so that her dad wouldn’t be foul-mooded at a blindside. She keeps smoothing down her hair and dress, worried that she didn’t look modest enough or grown up enough or that he would take one look at Kai and scream pervert loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear. Tired of her fidgeting, Kai takes her hand and kisses the knuckles.

“It’ll be okay, Bonster. Even if he gets mad, he’ll eventually get over that.”

“He’s my dad, Kai.”

“I know.”

“He’s going to point out your age gap to him is smaller than yours to mine!”

“I know.”

“He’ll disown me,” she laments.

“He won’t,” Kai chuckles. “And if he does, I got you. Call me Daddy, because six figure salary at your disposal. I love you.”

Bonnie hits his arm. “I love you, too. Dummy.”

“Is that anyway to talk to Daddy?” he jests.

Bonnie rolls her eyes and is about to tell him where to shove it when, she sees her father walk in. She raises her hand.

“Dad!”

Rudy smiles when he sees her, quickly making his way to the table. His step falters, when he takes in Kai and their clasped hands, his smile falling from his face. Oh no, Bonnie mentally screams, oh no, oh no, please, oh no.

Rudy kisses her cheek, then takes a seat. “Hey, Bonnie Rabbit.”

“Dad!” Bonnie’s face feels inflamed. Next to her, Kai mouths “Bonnie Rabbit” to himself with a small grin, and she curses internally. He’s never going to let this one go.

“Is this your...young man?” her dad asks, taking Kai in. Kai looks about early to mid thirties at most due to his healthy lifestyle, but even then his face-palming honesty is likely to blow Rudy’s temper out of the water very quickly. And judging by the way her dad is quickly becoming less affable, Bonnie can guess that time is coming soon.

“I am,” Kai replies easily. “Kai Parker. Nice to meet you, sir.” The two shake hands. And then Rudy asks the question Bonnie is dreading to hear.

“How old are you?” Rudy questions. He doesn’t sound like he’s expecting an answer he’ll like and her palms grow clammy. Kai slowly taps Morse code with his thumb on her hand while he answers. I love you. She squeezes him lightly in return.

“I turned forty back at the end of May.” Kai smiles at her dad. “Gemini.”

Rudy stares at him for a moment, then at their clasped hands on the table and the way Kai didn’t stop rubbing soothing circles on her wrist despite the look. Something dark and ugly twists Rudy’s face briefly before he looks to Bonnie with a heavy stare. The woman braces herself.

“Bonnie, could you excuse us for a moment?”

“What?” Bonnie blinks, taken aback. “No, I mean, I shouldn't.”

“Just for about five minutes, Bonnie. Please.”

Bonnie looks between her dad and Kai for a minute. Kai doesn’t appear happy with the request, but he nods his assent at her silent question when she looks at him. With a sigh, Bonnie makes her way to the ladies’ room, straining to hear them over the low chatter of diners.

It’s the longest five minutes of Bonnie’s life as she paces in front of the mirror waiting for her phone timer to go off. Five minutes. Then she’s charging back out there to her chew her dad a new asshole, relations be damned if he tries to tell her to stay away from the man she loves.

When she gets back though, it’s not like she expected. Both men appear ruffled, but they’re each sipping at their respective wine glasses in general peace as they wait for her to return. The tension eases when she slides into her seat and both of them reassure her everything is okay when she asks. They order their food, and her dad is pretty much himself, asking about her classes and her health and her friends. He doesn’t address Kai if he can help it, but he isn’t rude or dismissive of him either, nor does he try to stop the other from engaging Bonnie.

What the hell?

The rest of the dinner goes smoothly and her dad gives her a goodnight kiss to the forehead before bidding farewell. Surprisingly enough, she’d had a really good time and is pleasantly buzzed when she climbs into the car with Kai.

“So?” she asks.

“La, Ti, Do?”

“Malachai,” Bonnie purses her lips at him and he flashes her his ‘who me?’ smile at the look. “Seriously, you gonna tell me what happened in there?”

“Seriously? No, probably not.”

“Kai!”

“Bonnie Rabbit!”

“Ugh,” she lets it go, since the night turned out well and her father hadn’t attempted to kill her boyfriend and even seemed to give his pseudo-blessing to the relationship by outright ignoring it. It wasn’t worth the fight she’d get into with Kai if he’s determined to out-stubborn her.

Kai snorts suddenly. “Bonnie Rabbit. I love that by the way.”

“Hush.”

“It’s cute. Like you. My parents only ever called me things like ‘Abomination’ and ‘Freak’,” the upset Bonnie feels dissipates when he casts a wicked look at her and waggles his eyebrows. “But you can still call me Daddy if you want.”

“I don’t.”

“Shame,” he shrugs and lets a companionable silence fill the air, and Bonnie relaxes in the rare moment. They’re pulling into the driveway of his house when she finally speaks up.

“Hey, Kai?”

“S’up boo?” he glances over after parking the car.

“I’m actually not all that opposed to calling you Daddy.”

 

 

* * *

 

The first time he meets her, he’s forty-eight and she’s squalling and covered in blood, and actually the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. Kai’s the first person in the world to cradle her this way; close and tucked in near his heart which is now hers, and she seems to hate him for it, waving her tiny little fists in the air as she wails. He catches one with a hooked finger, pressing a kiss to the minuscule digits, uncaring of the birthing fluid she’s drenched in.

He’s reluctant to pass her off to the insistent nurse, wants to push the woman away because this squealing, angry little thing is _his. He_ made her, and he’s reluctant to give her away to just anyone. Still, she needs to be cleaned and his wife needs to be hugged, so he passes his crying daughter along to the medical staff and makes his way back to Bonnie. The tired woman meets his gaze.

“How’s she?”

“She’s beautiful. A cute kid, just like her mom,” he teases, wiping the sweat of her forehead with towel.

“Ha. I meant is she okay? Healthy? There’s nothing wrong with her?”

“Chillax, Negative Nancy, she’s perfect.”

He watches as the nurse makes her way over with a clear hospital crib, his daughter swaddled in white blanket with yellow and purple elephants on it, a pink cap and matching little pink mittens complete the newborn’s outfit. He reaches in to take her once the crib’s stopped and his child protests weakly at the jostle. He hands her to Bonnie, who had sat up, energy briefly renewed in anticipation of meeting her daughter.

Kai watches the tender moment, the love of his life as she coos at their firstborn, and there isn’t any disconnect. For once, he’s not overprocessing what to feel or how to react or mixing up responses to the situation at hand. He’s smiling because he’s happy, and he’s happy because this is a happy moment with his family. Because there’s a little girl with dark curls plastered to her head waving a chubby, little fist at him.

He waves back.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by an aspect of pennytree’s amazing BK fic The Charade that I will not get into because of spoilers and by Annie/Jeff from Community. Who were originally not supposed to be romantic, but Dan Harmon saw the chemistry between the actors and turned it into slow burn. Something Julie SHOULD have done with GrahamWood, but I digress. My headcanon is that Kai (Chris Wood) will age like Clooney or Smith or Rob Lowe and still look hella fine well into his fifties. Bonnie is very appreciative of that fact. 
> 
> This was originally much longer, but I felt some scenes obstructed the flow of the story or spun it off on a tangent that I didn't want for the length I wanted to stop at. If you're interested in the deleted scenes (my favorite scene actually ended up deleted), let me know and I'll post them.


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